What’s most interesting to me is that neighbors complained that the house was in effect a “nuisance” of loud parties and drunken students. The matter recalls the infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision of Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, which I just discussed with my class. There, an exclusive town on Long Island, N.Y., zoned out group houses; SUNY-Stony Brook was nearby. In an oft-criticized decision, Justice William O. Douglas upheld the town’s decision. I discuss with my class whether the SUNY college students were the victims of “stereotyping” –- reading between the lines, the town probably didn’t want annoying student housing in their community.

Returning to the Baltimore example, is it so clear that it’s good policy to conclude that because some students have been drunken louts in the past, we can assume, through law, that fraternity students will be drunken louts in the future? Is this a kind of stereotyping that is acceptable?